No. 1, Cleethorpes

Four hand pulls, offering Batemans Gold, XB and XXB, plus St Austell Tribute. I went for the XXXB and I am not convinced it was in tip top condition. All the real ales seemed to be £1.50 a half / £3 a pint. WhatPub says there are 8 real ales so either they have reduced their offering, or there were more pulls hidden elsewhere, but they were certainly not in the main bar and the room behind appeared to be in darkness. Food service times seem irregular - taken from a sign in the pub: Mon 4pm to 6:30pm Thu 5pm to 8pm Fri 5pm to 7:30pm Sun 12 to 4pm while stocks last It definitely had more of a drinkers' pub vibe to it at the time of my visit, probably a combination of regulars enjoying the cheap drinks, and passing tourists (myself included). Children are only allowed in when dining. There was a pool table, music was playing, and there was various train/railway signage dotted around to pay homage to its location. Seating is a mix of banquette, table and chairs, and stools at the bar. It is all very brown inside, even the toilets are painted a weird brown colour. On the subject of toilets, these were not the worst I have been in but certainly not the best - not helped by the fact that the hot water taps don't do anything! All things considered, I felt this place was a bit mediocre with a less than exciting ale selection, potential issues over quality, drab brown decor and I was happy to sup up and leave. I have no plans to rush back. However you may catch it on a better day! Just be aware that the pub is not very well signed, and there is no entrance from the platform side, so if you are arriving by train you probably wouldn't even know it was a pub unless you spotted the old faded Carling sticker in one of the windows. It does seem like they are missing a trick by not having an entrance on the platform side (the doors are they, they are just not used) but perhaps there are licensing or safety reasons for not having an exit/entrance direct onto the platform. You'd think they would at least have put a couple of signs up on the platform side to let you know it's a pub, and signposting the main entrance. I felt this one was a bit disappointing.

The No. 1 Bar, or ‘Aleway Station’ as one of its signs proclaims, is in the old building which runs alongside platform 1 of the station, although you probably wouldn’t realise it was a pub if you just happened to get off the train here - the back door from pub to platform isn’t used and you have to go out of the station and back alongside to get into it. It has quite a spacious interior, with several rooms offering various entertainments including a pool table, dart board, games machines, sport on TV, and a piano, and has live music nights and various leagues advertised. Shortly after opening at midday today it had several customers and a friendly feel to it. Beers were the usual tap selection plus three hand pulls, two of which were populated with Batemans XB and XXXB, the latter of which produced a decent pint. I liked this place and would happily come back, although the No. 2 Bar has a better beer selection and is more convenient for the station.